I managed to side with the Brotherhood and get their ending without destroying the Railroad. I just ignored Lietenant Kells and proceeded with the Institute missions until I got to Mass Fusion. Then I betrayed the Institute to the Brotherhood and it started the finale mission, completely skipping over "Tactical Thinking." Tactical Thinking was still listed as a quest in my journal after the Institute was a crater, but I just ignored it. I even did some missions for the Railroad that let me save assorted synths that made it out when I sounded an evacuation.

The only downside I could find was that it locked PAM into some kind of security override mode so that I couldn't talk to her anymore.

If at any point Kells walks towards you and tries to start dialog with you just break out of it and walk away. He will berate you, but the mission won't trigger and the Railroad won't get labeled as enemies.

Nice Bug Exploit.

I don't think it's a bug so much as some oversight. You *can* break out of conversations. The game is designed to let you do that. I use it to ignore needy settlers' quests all the time.

It's also not gamebreaking anyway, when you consider it's completely possible to play a BOS hypocrite. The only way you romance Danse is to be a BOS hypocrite.

The reason that PAM locks up is bnecause at the end of Kells mission, the Brotherhood reprograms her to work for them. She doesn't really answer to you.

So, it is bugged a little. But a cool way to keep Deacon.

Can you still use Deacon and Danse as companions?

Danse, yes, because I was in a romance with him so I still took him around. I never tried asking Deacon again, but he wasn't hostile and he would still talk to me so I assume, yes.

Interesting. I wonder if there are similar possibilities when working with other factions, though I doubt it. Seems like an oversight though, so that I would not exploit it. Besides I need to wipeout those Railroad terrorists after I gain access to the ballistic weave anyway.

I also wondered it it was possible to more or less ignore the Brotherhood and Railroad up until Mass Fusion and then betray the Institute at the last moment, completely avoiding the build-up of hostilities between the Railroad and Brotherhood. I'm thinking of trying this on some future playthrough.

Don't put the chip in the computer, either

they might not realize Danse is a synth.

Very cool find. Thank you for posting it.

They wouldn't, but it would also probably permanently lock you out of his personal quest if that was something you cared about.

Still, this many eventualities makes me think more and more that this *isn't* a bug or even an oversight. You can finish the final mission in about 10 different orders if you want. For a bit there, I was basically a triple agent.

Thats pretty smart. As soon as i went into that conversation with Kells it said the RR was hostile with me. I've played 20 hours and not gone and killed them yet. Very early on Deacon appeared in the wastes and i killed him. Sadface